Group inducts Chris Sununu into Hall of Shame

George Pelletier

Milford Bureau Chief

gpelletier@cabinet.com

Let America Vote, a national voters’ rights organization has inducted Gov. Chris Sununu into the voter suppression “Hall of Shame” for his aggressive efforts to restrict the right to vote.

On the organization’s website it states, “our democracy is under attack. It’s not just foreign interference in our elections. Politicians in America are attacking our right to vote.”

David Turner, Democratic Governors Association communications director, said he believes that Gov. Sununu is more vulnerable in next year’s election.

“We feel that one of the reasons that he’s earned this dishonor is because he’s turned his back on New Hampshire elections,” he said. “The way he’s talked about getting rid of gerrymandering and the fact that he didn’t want to establish an independent redistricting commission are topics that are popular among Granite State voters.”

There was also criticism for Sununu, who signed bills into law that target college students’ right to vote (house bill 1264).

In an appearance with Howie Carr, the conservative Boston radio talk show host, Sununu brazenly admitted the reason for his voter suppression is to swing elections towards Republicans. Sununu said if the state were to remove college towns like Hanover and Durham, “Trump and Ayotte would win by a landslide…it’s not even close.”

Turner added that while the DGA’s goal is to elect democratic governors, they abstain from involvement in primaries.

“That’s been a steadfast rule for some time,” he said.

It’s also been widely reported that President Trump and Sununu use the same talking points to heighten the myth of Trump spouting that Democrats bussed voters in from Massachusetts in 2016. The New Hampshire Secretary of State Office Bill Gardner, and the state’s Department of Justice debunked his claims. Politifact called his claims “ridiculous.”

This year, Sununu has carried on the voter suppressing work of his Granite State GOP colleagues by vetoing multiple pro-voter bills.

In 2017 and 2018, New Hampshire GOP legislators passed bills that disenfranchised voters across New Hampshire. Those bills raised unnecessary barriers to voting and will require students to pay a poll tax in order to vote. Gov. Sununu signed the bills into law even though he said he “hated” a similar bill, which redefines residency and revokes the voting rights of thousands of students who live in New Hampshire.

After New Hampshire Democrats took control of both the state House and Senate in 2018, they passed bills (HB 105, HB 106, SB 67) that would repeal the restrictive voting measures enacted by Republicans. Instead, Gov. Sununu vetoed the bills, therefore keeping in place a modern-day poll tax for New Hampshire voters.

Gov. Sununu also vetoed HB 706, a bill with broad bipartisan support to establish an independent redistricting commission. Gov. Sununu vetoed the bill even though it would have prevented extreme partisan gerrymandering.